Dila Par Kalima Hardam

Kalām: Ahad Zargar

This is one of those Kashmiri Sufi poems where the form itself becomes dhikr. Almost every line begins with "Chhu kalmay…" — The Kalima is… — until the poem begins to sound like the turning of a rosary. The poet is not merely praising the Kalima as a formula on the tongue. He is showing how the Kalima becomes the centre of being: earth and sky, day and night, colour and colourlessness, breath and eye, love and union, Ka‘ba and idol-house, captive and faqir, guide and light.

The refrain "lolo" carries the tenderness of Kashmiri mystical song. It is not filler. It is the cry of the lover: O beloved.

A small textual note: I would read this kalām as Ahad Zargar's. The closing line names him clearly: "Chhu kalmay Ahad Zargar." The line sometimes mistaken as a reference to "Tral Faqir" is better read as "ḍhāl faqīras" — the shield or support, branch, or staff of the faqir. The poem signs itself.

The Kalām

Farsi / Kashmiri Script	English Transcription	Modern Smooth English Translation
دِلا پر کلمہٕ ہر دم، چُھکھے بیدار لو لو	Dilā par kalimah hardam, chhukhay bīdār lo lo	O heart, recite the Kalima at every breath; stay awake, O beloved.
سِلاح کلمی چُھ کلمی، رِندن ہُند کار لو لو	Silāh kalmay chhu kalmay, rindan hund kār lo lo	The Kalima is the weapon; the Kalima is the work of the love-intoxicated ones, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی ارض و افلاک، چُھ کلمی شاہِ لولاک	Chhu kalmay arz-o-aflāk, chhu kalmay Shāh-e-Lawlāka	The Kalima is earth and the celestial spheres; the Kalima is the Shah-e-Lawlak (Breath or King of Lawlak see end of this post).
چُھ کلمی من کران پاک، چھلان زنگار لو لو	Chhu kalmay man karān pāk, chhalān zangār lo lo	The Kalima purifies the heart-mind; it scrubs away the rust, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی ذات و صفات، چُھ کلمی دوہ تہٕ بییہِ رات	Chhu kalmay zāt-o-sifāt, chhu kalmay doh tah beyih rāth	The Kalima is Essence and Attributes; the Kalima is day and again the night.
چُھ کلمی ساعت بر ساعت، گرزان اذکار لو لو	Chhu kalmay sā‘at bar sā‘at, grazān adhkār lo lo	The Kalima is hour after hour; remembrance keeps resounding, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی نقش بر سنگ، چُھ کلمی رنگ تہٕ بیرنگ	Chhu kalmay naqsh bar sang, chhu kalmay rang tah bē-rang	The Kalima is an inscription on stone; the Kalima is colour and colourlessness.
چُھ کلمی ساز سارنگ، پران سیتارٕ لو لو	Chhu kalmay sāz sārang, parān sitār lo lo	The Kalima is instrument and melody; the sitar itself recites it, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی ہیتھ یہِ آدم، چُھ کلمی زیر تہٕ بم	Chhu kalmay hyeth yih Ādam, chhu kalmay zēr tai bam	The Kalima has taken this human form; the Kalima is the low note and the high note.
چُھ کلمی عین با دم، وُچھان دیدار لو لو	Chhu kalmay ‘ayn ba-dam, wuchhān dīdār lo lo	The Kalima is in the seeing eye and in the breath; through it one beholds the Beloved, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی فرش کوی راج، چُھ کلمی عرش کوی تاج	Chhu kalmay farsh kuy raj, chhu kalmay ‘arsh kuy tāj	The Kalima is the rule below; the Kalima is the crown of the Throne above.
چُھ کلمی وصل معراج، گنجِ اسرار لو لو	Chhu kalmay wasl mi‘rāj, ganj-e-asrār lo lo	The Kalima is union and ascent; it is the treasure of secrets, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی عشقِ کامل، چُھ کلمی ہر دِلکُ دِل	Chhu kalmay ‘ishq-e-kāmil, chhu kalmay har dilukh dil	The Kalima is perfect love; the Kalima is the heart within every heart.
چُھ کلمی عاشقن کُیِل، پھَلِتھ گُلزار لو لو	Chhu kalmay ‘āshiqan kuil, pholith gulzār lo lo	The Kalima is the lovers tree; the garden has borne fruit, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی کلمہ اعلا، چُھ کلمی کلمہ بالا	Chhu kalmay kalmah a‘lā, chhu kalmay kalmah bālā	The Kalima is the highest Kalima; the Kalima is the lifted, exalted Kalima.
چُھ کلمی لا مثالا، اَلا عیار لو لو	Chhu kalmay lā-mithālā, alā ‘ayyār lo lo	The Kalima is without likeness; it is of the purest assay, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی سَرہ کَرٕنوی، چُھ کلمی زِندٕ مَرٕنوی	Chhu kalmay sarra karnui, chhu kalmay zindah marnui	The Kalima means to sacrifice yourself (your ego and nafs); the Kalima means to die while alive.
چُھ کلمی تارٕ ترٕ نوی، چشمِ تروار لو لو	Chhu kalmay tāra tar navī, sum-i tarwār lo lo	The Kalima is crossing the crossing; over the sword-bridge, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی کعبہٕ بُتخان، چُھ کلمی کُفر و اِیمان	Chhu kalmay Ka‘bah but-khān, chhu kalmay kufr-o-īmān	The Kalima is Ka‘ba and idol-house; the Kalima is disbelief and faith.
چُھ کلمی کٔرِتھ یکسان، بہٕ کیاہ بیون ژارٕ لو لو	Chhu kalmay karith yaksān, bah kyāh biyun zhār lo lo	The Kalima has made them one; what other thing should I search for, O beloved?
چُھ کلمی نالٕ اسیٖرس، چُھ کلمی ڈأل فقیٖرس	Chhu kalmay nāl asīras, chhu kalmay ḍhāl faqīras	The Kalima is the alongside the captive; the Kalima is the shield or support of the faqir.
چُھ کلمی چال سیٖرس، کران مِلٕ ژار لو لو	Chhu kalmay chāl sīras, karān milah zhār lo lo	The Kalima is the way of the secret; it draws the seeker toward meeting, O beloved.
چُھ کلمی احد زرگر، چُھ کلمی گٔنڈِتھ زیور	Chhu kalmay Ahad Zargar, chhu kalmay gaṇḍith zewar	Ahad Zargar (it is also a pun on the meaning of the name Zargar as goldsmith) is adorned by the Kalima; the Kalima has tied on the jewel.
چُھ کلمی گاش رہبر، برِ دربار لو لو	Chhu kalmay gāsh rahbar, bar-e-darbār lo lo	The Kalima is the guiding light at the threshold of the Divine Court, O beloved.

Where the Meaning is Not Obvious

"Dilā par kalmah hardam" — O heart, recite the Kalima always. The poem begins not with the tongue but with the heart. Ahad Zargar is not satisfied with outer recitation alone. The heart itself must become awake. Bīdār is the key. A sleeping heart may repeat sacred syllables; an awakened heart hears the Kalima in everything.

"Silāh" — the weapon. This is not the weapon of violence. It is the weapon against forgetfulness, pride, heedlessness, and the nafs. The Kalima cuts the false self and protects the inward life of the seeker.

"Rind" — the love-intoxicated one. In ordinary speech, rind can sound like a drunkard. In Sufi poetry it means the one drunk on divine love, free from empty display. The line says: the Kalima is the true work of those who have tasted love.

"Shāh-e-Lawlak." This is a devotional title for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Rekhta glosses Shah-e-Laulak as a figurative name for the Prophet Muhammad (see the Rekhta Dictionary entry). In this poem, the Kalima is tied to the Muhammadan light: creation, mercy, and recognition of the Real all gather around that blessed name.

"Chhalān zangār" — scrubbing away rust. The rust is the dullness that settles on the heart through heedlessness and wrong action. Qur'an 83:14 speaks of hearts being stained by what people do; Ahad Zargar turns that Qur'anic image into Kashmiri Sufi song. The Kalima is the polish. It makes the heart a mirror again.

"Zāt-o-sifāt" — Essence and Attributes. This is the language of tawḥīd. The Divine Essence is hidden beyond grasp, while the Attributes are the ways the One becomes known: mercy, power, beauty, hearing, seeing. Ahad Zargar says the Kalima points to both — the Hidden and the manifest.

"Rang tah bē-rang" — colour and colourlessness. This is one of the loveliest Sufi paradoxes. The Real appears in colour: forms, faces, flowers, music, breath. Yet the Real is also beyond colour, beyond form, beyond every container. Qur'an 42:11 says, "There is nothing like Him," and this line sings the same truth in Kashmiri.

"Sāz, sārang, sitār." The music imagery is not accidental. In the awakened state, creation itself becomes dhikr. The instrument plays, the note rises and falls, and the seeker hears the Kalima underneath the sound. This is why the poem moves naturally from instruments to zēr tah bam — low note and high note.

"Hīth yih Ādam" — it has taken this human form. The human being is not treated as a mere body here. Adam becomes the instrument through which the Kalima breathes, sees, remembers, and beholds. The body is not rejected; it is refined.

"Farsh" and "‘Arsh." Farsh is the floor below; ‘Arsh is the Throne above. The Kalima stretches from the snow-covered ground to the crown of the Throne. Nothing is outside its circle.

"Wasl mi‘rāj" — union and ascent. Mi‘rāj recalls the Prophet's Night Journey and ascent, mentioned in Qur'an 17:1. Sufi poets often bring this outer sacred history into the inward life of the seeker. The Kalima becomes the ladder: not escape from the world, but ascent through remembrance.

"Lā-mithālā" — without likeness. This echoes the Qur'anic truth that nothing resembles the Divine. Yet Ahad Zargar immediately uses the language of ‘ayyār, assay or purity. This is a goldsmith's image, and it matters because the poet is Zargar — the goldsmith. The Kalima is the fire that tests the metal of the soul.

"Sidrah." I read the blurred word here as Sidrah, referring to the Sidrat al-Muntahā, the Lote-Tree at the furthest boundary. The line suggests that the Kalima renews even the highest point of spiritual vision. It makes the old new again.

"Ka‘ba and but-khān." This is the boldest turn in the poem. It should not be read carelessly. Ahad Zargar is not saying that worship and falsehood are the same in ordinary religious life. He is speaking from the station of tawḥīd, where the seeker sees that all apparent oppositions are swallowed by the One. The next line makes the meaning clear: karith yaksān — it has made them one.

"Kufr-o-īmān." Again, this is not a legal statement. It is a mystical shock-line. The poet is saying that the Kalima is deeper than the labels by which we divide people and things. At the height of recognition, the seeker does not become careless; he becomes more humble, because he sees how little the mind can hold.

"Nālah asīras" — the cry of the captive. The Kalima is not only for saints in ecstasy. It is also the cry of the bound person, the prisoner, the helpless one. This is why the next half-line says it is the support of the faqir. The faqir owns nothing, but the Kalima becomes his staff.

The closing signature. "Chhu kalmay Ahad Zargar." Ahad Zargar does not end by praising himself. He places himself inside the Kalima. Then he gives the goldsmith image since his family name, Zargar means goldsmith: gaṇḍith zewar — tied with an ornament. The true ornament is not gold. It is remembrance. The last line is pure humility: the Kalima is the guiding light, and the seeker stands at the threshold of the Divine Court.

You can listen to a common variant here: